DELHI- The Flag carrier of Türkiye, Turkish Airlines (TK) is looking to strengthen the Turkiye-India bilateral air service agreement with a plan to add new destinations in India.
Sevki Erkan Erdogan, General Manager, Northern & Eastern India at Turkish Airlines revealed to FE that they wish to have a revision in the existing air service agreement with the civil aviation ministry of India.
Turkish Airlines India Flights
Turkish Airlines currently operates 14 weekly flights using its high-capacity Boeing 777 aircraft between Turkiye and India. This includes non-stop flights from Istanbul (IST) to Delhi (DEL) and Mumbai (BOM).
The airline has a codeshare agreement with India’s largest carrier, IndiGo Airlines (6E). This helps Turkish Airlines to serve six Indian cities from BOM and DEL.
Mr Erkan Erdogan told FE that there is tremendous growth potential in India, which is not getting utilized due to restrictions on flights. Further, If allowed by the Indian Civil Aviation Ministry, they will arrange a fleet to connect Istanbul with new metro cities in India.
Turkish Airlines has a fleet of 356 aircraft including around 145 widebody passenger and cargo aircraft. This includes Airbus A330s, A350s, Boeing 777s and 787s.
Turkish Airlines is the airline that serves the largest number of International destinations in the world. It operates both passenger and cargo flights to and from 130 Countries.
As per the official website, the airline serves 296 International and 53 domestic destinations, which totals 349 destinations. Here’s the breakdown of destinations continent-wise:
| Continent | Destinations |
| Europe | 122 |
| Africa | 64 |
| Asia and Australia | 48 |
| Middle East (Not counted in Asia) | 37 |
| North and South America | 25 |
Mr Erdogan sees strong demand in transit flights from India to Europe, South America, and the United States via Istanbul. He noted that all of its existing bilateral slots are utilized by them and they want more slots to provide better connectivity and options to passengers.
Furthermore, He added that if they are allocated more bilateral rights then they will deploy a wide-body fleet of direct flights to Bengaluru (the third busiest airport in India), Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata.
Bottomline
It will be interesting to see whether the civil aviation ministry of India allocates more slots to foreign carriers like Turkish Airlines.
Emirates (EK) already demands more flights to and from Dubai to Indian cities but the limited slots curb their expansion plans.
Emirates Airlines is already the largest foreign carrier that operates the highest number of International flights to and from India.
What are your thoughts on Turkish Airlines’ request for additional slots? Let us know in the comments.
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The post Turkish Airlines Eyes New Flights to Metro Cities in India appeared first on Aviation A2Z.